Podcasts · Society & Culture

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

Peter Adamson

300 episodes

Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, "without any gaps". www.historyofphilosophy.net

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. HoP 502 United States: the Dutch Republic

    · 23 min · Episode 503

    The period of political turmoil and experimentation in liberty that set the stage for philosophers including Grotius and Spinoza.

  2. HoP 501 Mara van der Lugt on Bayle and Pessimism

    · 33 min · Episode 501

    An interview on the surprising comforts to be found in the philosophy of pessimism, focusing on Bayle but looking all the way forward to Schopenhauer.

  3. HoP 500e Daniel Watson on Medieval Irish Philosophy

    · 35 min · Episode 506

    In the last of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to Daniel Watson about philosophy in early medieval Ireland.

  4. HoP 500d Ted Good on Zoroastrianism

    · 49 min · Episode 505

    In the fourth of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to Ted Good about philosophy and the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism.

  5. HoP 500c Troels Engberg-Pedersen on St Paul and the Stoics

    · 41 min · Episode 508

    In the third of five episodes to mark the 500 episode milestone, an expert on Paul's letters tells us how Stoic ideas shaped his philosophy and theology.

  6. HoP 500b Melissa Lane on Herotodus and Thucydides

    · 44 min · Episode 507

    Our second episode in celebration of reaching the 500 mark fills a significant gap: Melissa Lane helps us to understand the ancient Greek historians Herotodus and Thucydides, including their relationship to Plato.

  7. HoP 500a Marguerite Johnson on Sappho

    · 50 min · Episode 504

    In the first of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to a leading expert on the poems of Sappho.

  8. HoP 499 Beyond Belief: Bayle, Toleration, and Atheism

    · 24 min · Episode 500

    Pierre Bayle argues that religious disagreements should be tolerated and that there are powerful arguments against monotheism, even as some contemporaries embrace outright atheism.

  9. Bonus Episode: Glenn Adamson on A Century of Tomorrows

    · 42 min · Episode 502

    Go to www.glennadamson.com to find out more about Glenn's books including A Century of Tomorrows

  10. HoP 498 Probably Probable: Pierre Bayle and his Dictionary

    · 21 min · Episode 499

    Is Pierre Bayle’s pioneering reference work, the Historical and Critical Dictionary, a monument to skepticism or to fideism?

  11. HoP 497 Pure and Simple: Quietism

    · 19 min · Episode 498

    The “Quietists” Jeanne Guyon and François Fénelon argue that self-love can be overcome by cultivating a “pure love” for God. Their reward: to be accused of heresy.

  12. HoP 496 He Unwilling, She Unwilling: Jean Racine

    · 17 min · Episode 497

    How the “neo-classical” tragedies of Racine explore the battle between passion and reason.

  13. HoP 495 Comedy of Errors: Molière

    · 18 min · Episode 494

    Molière’s famous comedies scandalize Paris and dramatize themes from French moralism, especially the danger of hypocrisy.

  14. HoP 494 Tell the Truth While Laughing: The French Moralists

    · 23 min · Episode 495

    La Rochefoucauld and other “moralists” offer a penetrating and witty critique of human pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Is this just cynicism, or does it support a positive ethic?

  15. HoP 493 Better Nature: The French Garden

    · 21 min · Episode 496

    How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy.

  16. HoP 492 Changing By Degrees: French Scholasticism

    · 21 min · Episode 492

    How philosophy at the universities evolved in response to Cartesianism and the “new science.”

  17. HoP 491 Image Problems: Arnauld vs Malebranche on Ideas

    · 19 min · Episode 491

    Arnauld’s attack on Malebranche’s theory of the “vision in God” leads to a nuanced debate over the nature of ideas.

  18. HoP 490 Steven Nadler on Occasionalism

    · 32 min · Episode 493

    What inspired the occasionalist theory embraced by the 17th century Cartesians? We find out from a leading specialist on the topic.

  19. HoP 489 All Power to Him: Malebranche and Occasionalism

    · 21 min · Episode 489

    What led Malebranche to his notorious view that all bodily motions and thoughts are caused by God, with created things serving only as “occasions” for divine action?

  20. HoP 488 No Particular Reason: Nicolas Malebranche

    · 20 min · Episode 488

    We begin to explore Malebranche’s controversial development of Cartesian philosophy by looking at his theodicy.

  21. HoP 487 Showing Good Judgment: The Port Royal Logic

    · 22 min · Episode 490

    Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole update the study of logic to take account of the ideas of Descartes.

  22. HoP 486 Friends of the Truth: Arnauld and Jansenism

    · 20 min · Episode 487

    Antoine Arnauld combines Cartesian philosophy with Jansenism, one of the most controversial religious movements of the 17th century.

  23. HoP 485 Liz Jackson on Pascal's Wager

    · 39 min · Episode 486

    An interview on contemporary approaches to Pascal's Wager: where decision theory meets philosophy of religion.

  24. HoP 484 You Bet Your Life: Pascal’s Wager

    · 23 min · Episode 485

    Should we gamble on belief in God to have a chance at infinite reward?

  25. HoP 483 Between Infinity and the Void: Blaise Pascal

    · 20 min · Episode 484

    Blaise Pascal was a pioneering scientist and deeply spiritual religious thinker; what united these two sides of his thought?

  26. HoP 482 Indivisible, Under God: the Revival of Atomism

    · 20 min · Episode 483

    Why did Sébastian Basso and Pierre Gassendi think ancient atomism was the key to developing a new, modern science?

  27. HoP 481 True Fool’s Gold: Pierre Gassendi

    · 20 min · Episode 482

    Gassendi’s path from skepticism to “baptized Epicureanism.”

  28. HoP 480 Honorable Ignorance: French Skepticism

    · 22 min · Episode 481

    So-called “libertines” like Mothe le Vayer revive ancient skepticism, provoking a backlash from Mersenne and Arnauld. Were they right to see the skeptics as anti-religious?

  29. HoP 479 Gideon Manning on Cartesian Medicine

    · 34 min · Episode 479

    An interview exploring Descartes' interest in medicine, how his medical ideas relate to his dualism, and his influence on medical science.

  30. HoP 478 This Gland Is Your Gland: Cartesian Science

    · 24 min · Episode 478

    From comets to blood transfusions, embryology, and the debate over the pineal gland: Descartes’ impact on science, especially medicine.

  31. HoP 477 The Mind Has No Sex: Cartesianism and Gender

    · 21 min · Episode 480

    Why Cartesianism appealed to women and became the inspiration for a pioneering feminist, Poullain de la Barre; and why Cartesianism was not the only option for women philosophers of the age.

  32. HoP 476 What He Should Have Said: the Early Cartesians

    · 26 min · Episode 477

    Early Cartesians including Cordemoy and de La Forge develop but also challenge Descartes’ ideas, defending atomism and occasionalism.

  33. HoP 475 Ariane Schneck on Elisabeth and Descartes

    · 35 min · Episode 476

    We finish our look at Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes by talking to Ariane Schneck about their correspondence, focusing on the mind-body problem and the passions.

  34. HoP 474 States of the Union: Descartes on the Passions

    · 19 min · Episode 475

    What do emotions reveal about the connection between mind and body? We turn to Descartes’ correspondence with Elisabeth and his On the Passions to find out.

  35. HoP 473 As Rational As You: Elisabeth of Bohemia

    · 22 min · Episode 474

    A royal scholar and philosopher sets aside the tribulations of her family to debate Descartes over the relation between mind and body and the nature of happiness.

  36. HoP 472 Less Cheer, More Knowledge: Descartes’ Ethics

    · 21 min · Episode 472

    Descartes’ “provisional” morality and his views on free will and virtue.

  37. HoP 471 Unclear and Indistinct Ideas: Debating the Meditations

    · 22 min · Episode 473

    Descartes’ Meditations caused controversy as soon as it appeared. In this episode we look at criticisms including the “Cartesian Circle,” and how Descartes answered them.

  38. HoP 470 Gary Hatfield on Descartes' Meditations

    · 36 min · Episode 471

    We're joined in this episode by a leading expert on one of the most famous works of philosophy ever written: Descartes' Meditations.

  39. HoP 469 Ghost in the Machine: Cartesian Dualism

    · 25 min · Episode 468

    The word “Cartesian” is synonymous with a radical contrast between mind and body. What led Descartes to his dualism, and how can he explain vital activities in humans and animals having rejected the Aristotelian theory…

  40. HoP 468 Perchance to Dream: Descartes’ Skeptical Method

    · 29 min · Episode 470

    How Descartes fashioned a “method” to repel even the strongest and most radical forms of doubt, with the cogito argument as its foundation.

  41. HoP 467 Written in Mathematics: Descartes’ Physics

    · 28 min · Episode 469

    For Descartes body is purely geometrical. So how does he understand features we can perceive, like color, and causation between bodies?

  42. HoP 466 Well Hidden: Descartes’ Life and Works

    · 20 min · Episode 467

    How René Descartes’ understanding of his own intellectual project evolved across his lifetime.

  43. HoP 465 Modern Times: France and the Netherlands in the 17th Century

    · 27 min · Episode 465

    A look at the political and religious ferment that made up the historical context of philosophy in 17th century France and the Netherlands.

  44. HoP 464 Howard Hotson on the Republic of Letters

    · 42 min · Episode 466

    In this interview we learn more about the Republic of Letters: its importance for the history of ideas, it geographic breadth, who was involved, and the contributions of figures including Leibniz and Hartlib.

  45. HoP 463 Doctors without Borders: the Republic of Letters

    · 24 min · Episode 464

    How scholars around Europe created an international network of intellectual exchange. As examples we consider the activities of Mersenne, Peiresc, Leibniz, Calvet, and Hartlib.

  46. HoP 462 Freedom to Philosophize: Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy

    · 37 min · Episode 463

    What is Enlightenment, anyway?

  47. HoP 461 - Eileen Reeves on Galileo and the Telescope

    · 43 min · Episode 462

    We finish our look at philosophy in the Reformation era with an interview about Galileo's use of a revolutionary technology: the telescope.

  48. HoP 460 - Trial and Error - Galileo and the Inquisition

    · 19 min · Episode 461

    The philosophical issues at the heart of the notorious condemnation of Galileo and Copernican astronomy.

  49. HoP 459 - Cardinal Rule - Robert Bellarmine

    · 20 min · Episode 460

    Though most famous for his role in persecuting Galileo, Robert Bellarmine was a central figure of the Counter-Reformation, especially in his political thought.

  50. HoP 458 - Outsider Philosophy - The Cheese and the Worms

    · 22 min · Episode 459

    Carlo Ginzburg’s innovative historical study The Cheese and the Worms looks at the ideas of an obscure 16th century miller, suggesting how popular culture might be integrated into the history of philosophy.

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